AllMovie

In late 2005, after Canadian parliament delivered a vote of "no confidence" following a scandal attached to Prime Minister Paul Martin, an election was scheduled for January 2006, and Starbuck and Roach (aka Eric Denis), two punk rockers from Montreal, decided to display their disgust with the corruption of Canada's two party system by running for office. While Starbuck's favored means of attracting the attention of potential voters include stapling handbills to his forehead and stuffing a Canadian flag where the sun doesn't shine, Roach saw an opportunity to bring some issues into the debate that the dominant Liberal and Conservative parties were ignoring, including creating an electoral system that would more accurately reflect the nation's citizenry and making it easier for the homeless to vote. While Starbuck and Roach weren't able to place their third party on the ballot, they soldiered on by running as independent candidates, but as Roach began gaining unexpected mainstream media attention for his campaign, Starbuck was convinced his friend had become addicted to the limelight that comes with the campaign trail, and Roach's radical credentials were brought into question. Denis is also an independent filmmaker, and Punk The Vote is a documentary record of the campaign waged by himself and Starbuck to throw a spanner into the works of Canadian politics; the film was screened as part of Toronto's 2007 Hot Docs International Film Festival.